Most people don’t grow up dreaming of working in employee benefits. I certainly didn’t. My path here was accidental at first, but intentional ever since.
I grew up watching my mother build a career in this industry. She was one of the few female insurance producers (aka salespeople, in non-insurance speak) in a world that wasn’t designed for her — no mentors who looked like her, no templates, no roadmap.
But she built something meaningful anyway.
Insurance gave her what few industries offered a single mother in the 1970s: stability, dignity, and the ability to provide for her family on her terms. I didn’t fully understand what I was watching then. But I was learning.
When I entered the field myself, it didn’t feel inspiring at first. Benefits looked transactional. Policies. Premiums. Spreadsheets. A world of numbers, not narratives.
That changed the moment I understood what was actually at stake — the real-life moments behind every claim, every renewal, every line item.
How plan design could be the difference between a family staying solvent or falling into crisis.
How a strategic renewal could stabilize a workforce during its most volatile year.
How access, affordability and advocacy could literally shape the trajectory of someone’s life.
Not just for businesses, but for people. For families. For the quiet, ordinary lives that never make it into an insurance case study.
Benefits aren’t about enrollment forms, they’re about futures
That realization changed everything for me. Today, it influences how I lead.
Every March during Women’s History Month, when we pause to recognize women in insurance, I think about Mom. About how much this industry still needs the kind of leadership she modeled: resilient and grounded in humanity.
And that starts with how we show up for each other.
Female leaders in insurance: We have an opportunity — and frankly, a responsibility — to build just that. To lead, to model what leadership looks like when it's rooted in accountability, psychological safety, and genuine support of each other.
Here's what that looks like in practice and how we can all level up today:
- Set the standard for your team and peers. Culture is the rules you personally live by every day. Define them explicitly and openly to all: non-judgmental, supportive, empathetic. Then hold yourself to them first. Ask yourself: “What needs to be said that I’m not saying?” or “How can I better support that team member?”
- Replace judgment with curiosity. When a colleague struggles, ask before you assume. The question "What resources/support do you need?" builds more trust than “What can be done to hit that metric?”
- Make psychological safety a true practice. People need to know they can speak up, make mistakes and ask for help without retribution. That only happens when you lead with vulnerability yourself. Imagine saying, “We lost this account because of my oversight, but here’s how we’ll improve.” This kind of vulnerability builds trust and teaches your team that mistakes aren’t the end, but instead opportunities to grow.
- Break the cycle for good. Women can be unnecessarily hard on other women. It’s on us to break that cycle. Build a culture of accountability and celebration, where high standards and genuine support aren't in conflict. That kind of culture is contagious and eventually spreads across the organization.
Embrace your radical responsibility
My leadership philosophy wasn’t shaped by a great mentor; it was shaped by watching someone pave her way without one.
This Women’s History Month, let’s pledge to embrace the radical responsibility bestowed upon us by our previous generations and pay it forward by showing up as the leaders and mentors we want the next generation to have.
